LYNCHING : A NATIONAL 
MENACE 


THE  WHITE  SOUTH’S  PROTEST 
AGAINST  LYNCHING 


HAMPTON  INSTITUTE,  the  well-known  school  for  Negroes  and 
Indians,  was  founded  by  General  Samuel  Chapman  Armstrong  in  1868, 
on  the  shore  of  Hampton  Roads,  near  Fort  Monroe,  Virginia. 

It  is  an  undenominational  school,  controlled  by  a board  of  seven- 
teen trustees.  The  school  property  includes  about  1100  acres  of  land 
and  140  buildings,  among  which  are  a church,  academic  hall,  library, 
dormitories,  and  buildings  for  the  teaching  of  agriculture  and  the 
mechanical  trades. 

The  number  of  students  (1918-1919)  is  1450,  including  Normal, 
Practice,  and  Summer  Schools.  The  boarding  pupils  provide  their 
own  board  and  clothing,  partly  in  cash  and  partly  in  labor  at  the 
school.  But  the  great  majority  of  students  cannot  pay  their  tuition, 
which  is  one  hundred  dollars  per  pupil.  A scholarship  may  be  en- 
dowed for  $2500. 

Many  Sunday  schools,  associations,  and  friends  of  the  two  races 
are  interested  to  give  these  scholarships,  and  larger  or  smaller  sums 
year  by  year,  according  to  their  ability,  and  thus  assist  Hampton  in 
raising  the  $135,000  necessary  each  year  for  current  expenses  in  ad- 
dition to  its  regular  income.  Sunday-school  classes  are  also  often 
interested  in  sending  Christmas  boxes  to  graduates  teaching  in  the 
South  or  West. 

Nearly  10,000  young  people  have  had  the  benefit  of  Hampton’s 
ideals  and  training.  They  have  for  the  most  part  gone  back  to  the 
Western  plains  or  to  the  Southern  states,  and  there  have  become 
centers  of  influence— teachers,  farmers,  skilled  mechanics,  thrifty 
homemakers— leading  their  people  more  by  deeds  than  by  words  to  a 
higher  plane  of  citizenship. 


LYNCHING:  A NATIONAL 
MENACE  * 

BY  JAMES  E.  GREGG 


Principal  of  Hampton  Institute 

IN  any  discussion  of  a subject  which,  as  we  commonly  see  it,  is 
strongly  colored  by  our  instincts,  our  feelings,  our  prejudices, 
and  our  habitual  motives,  we  shall  gain  much  if  we  can  begin, 
at  least,  by  viewing  it  in  the  clear  white  light  of  truth.  Let  us  try 
so  to  consider  the  matter  of  lynching.  Let  us  be  as  dispassionate 
as  we  can.  Let  us  be  sure  that  our  indignation,  when  it  rises, 
comes  as  a result  of  the  facts,  and  not  in  defiance  of  them. 

The  first  important  circumstance  to  be  noted  and  remembered 
is  that  lynching  is  not  a Southern,  but  an  American  habit.  A 
philosophical  friend  of  mine  once  remarked  to  me,  after  a year 
spent  in  France,  England,  Germany,  and  Russia,  that  every  nation 
has  its  own  kind  of  violence,  of  which  it  thinks  little  or  nothing, 
while  it  shudders  at  the  violence  of  other  nations.  In  our 
orderly  United  States,  we  express  amazement  over  the  turbulence 
of  British  public  meetings;  we  still  are  horrified  when  we  read  of 
the  bloody  guillotines  of  the  French  Revolution;  we  do  not  forget 
the  general  outburst  of  righteous  wrath  against  King  Leopold  of 
Belgium  for  his  abominable  cruelties  in  the  Congo;  our  detestation 
of  the  cold-blooded  Russian  bureaucrats  who  sent  thousands  of 
martyr-exiles  to  Siberia  was  quite  as  deep  as  our  present  angry 
contempt  of  the  Bolsheviki;  and  our  blood  has  boiled  many  times 
because  of  Turkish  brutality  and  fiendishness.  All  this  time,  every 
one  of  these  peoples  has  been  shocked,  and  has  not  hesitated  to 
say  so,  by  our  national  fondness  for  putting  supposed  criminals  to 
death  without  trial  or  other  process  of  law.  Our  attitude  toward 
German  atrocities  in  Belgium  and  Northern  France  and  the  Ger- 
man retorts  are  simply  the  latest  instance  of  this  curious  symptom. 
If  anyone  is  disposed  to  deny  that  lynching  is  national  rather  than 
regional,  the  riots  in  East  St.  Louis,  Illinois,  in  1917,  resulting  in 
the  death  of  over  two  hundred  Negroes,  and  the  horrible  lynch- 
ing at  Coatesville,  Pennsylvania,  in  1911,  should  be  sufficient  to 
show  that  the  burden  of  guilt  does  not  rest  on  the  South  alone. 

A second  significant  and  usually  unnoticed  fact  is  that  com- 
paratively few  of  the  persons  lynched  are  even  charged  with 


Reprinted  from  The  Southern  Workman,  published  by  Hampton  Institute,  Hampton,  Va. 


4 


LYNCHING : A NATIONAL  MENACE 


assault  or  attempted  assault — in  1918,  16  out  of  62.  This  disposes 
of  the  idea  that  the  motive  of  the  mob  is  a chivalrous  determina- 
tion to  protect  the  honor  of  white  women. 

A third  fact  to  be  observed  is  that  lynchings  commonly  occur 
in  neighborhoods  where  education  is  backward  and  community 
standards  are  low.  If  Georgia,  Louisiana,  Texas,  and  other 
Southern  states  have  won  a bad  eminence  in  their  record  of 
lynchings,  the  reason  may  largely  be  found  in  the  unenlightened 
conditions  under  which  too  many  of  their  people,  white  and  black, 
have  been  allowed  to  live. 

A fourth  fact  is  that  the  best  men  and  women  of  the  South 
are  more  and  more  realizing  the  shame  of  this  evil.  No  Northerner 
has  denounced  it  more  fiercely  than  has  ex-Governor  Emmet 
O’Neal  of  Alabama.  At  the  meeting  of  the  Southern  Sociological 
Congress  in  May  at  Knoxville,  Professor  Edwin  Mims  of  Vander- 
bilt University  spoke  out  with  fiery  eloquence.  “Lynching,  ” he 
said,  “is  unjustifiable  under  all  circumstances.  It  is  wrong  in  the 
sight  of  man  and  God.  It  is  a blot  on  our  National  escutcheon  and 
is  a menace  to  the  whole  country.  It  is  an  economic  peril  to  the 
South.  It  is  inexpedient,  unwise,  and  a political  mistake.  Above 
all,  it  is  a community  and  a National  sin.  * * * 

“When  one  set  of  people  sets  up  a crime  for  which  a lynching 
is  justifiable,  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  another  group  of  people 
from  setting  up  another  crime  for  which  it  considers  lynching 
equally  justifiable.  A mob  in  action  knows  no  law.  It  knows  no 
reason.  It  is  governed  only  by  its  passion  at  white  heat.  * * * 

If  the  community  cannot  stop  lynching,  then  the  State  can.  If 
the  State  cannot  stop  lynching, then  the  Nation  can — and  WILL.” 

There  are  multitudes  of  Southerners  who  are  thinking  like- 
wise— more  than  any  of  us  realize.  For  several  years  past  they 
have  been  worthily,  bravely,  and  effectively  represented  by  the 
University  Commission  on  Southern  Race  Questions,  a notable 
group  of  Southern  collegiate  teachers,  whose  utterances,  re- 
strained and  reasonable,  yet  glowing  with  the  fire  of  patriotism 
and  conscience,  are  doing  much  to  sober,  enlighten,  and  educate 
the  thoughtful  people  of  the  South.  The  Commission’s  “open 
letter”  of  January  5,  1916,  declares  that  “lynching  does  more 
than  rob  its  victims  of  their  constitutional  rights  and  of  their 
lives.  It  simultaneously  lynches  law  and  justice  and  civilization, 
and  outrages  all  the  finer  human  sentiments  and  feelings.  The 
wrong  that  it  does  to  the  wretched  victims  is  almost  as  nothing 
compared  to  the  injury  it  does  to  the  lynchers  themselves,  to  the 
community,  and  to  society  at  large.  Lynching  is  a contagious 
social  disease,  and  as  such  is  of  deep  concern  to  every  American 
citizen  and  to  every  lover  of  civilization  * * * Civilization 


LYNCHING : A NATIONAL  MENACE 


5 


rests  on  obedience  to  law,  which  means  the  substitution  of  reason 
and  deliberation  for  impulse,  instinct,  and  passion.” 

Fifth,  and  finally,  we  should  all  remind  ourselves  that  not 
superciliousness,  nor  self-congratulation,  nor  any  sort  of  Pharisaic 
self-righteousness,  nor  any  wholesale  condemnation  of  others  is 
going  to  cure  this  public  disease,  this  social  wickedness,  this  hor- 
rible perversion  of  loyalty  to  the  common  welfare.  The  only 
remedies  are  a sounder  and  broader  education,  made  possible  for 
all,  a purer  and  truer  religion,  a more  courageous  public  spirit  on 
the  part  of  civil  officers,  and  a wiser,  juster,more  humane,  feeling 
in  the  hearts  of  all  the  people.  Northerners  and  Southerners, 
white  men  and  Negroes,  all  of  us  have  been  at  fault;  all  of  us  can 
do  better;  each  of  us  can  help  the  rest.  The  only  way  out  is  the 
way  of  mutual  trust  and  good  will. 

The  attitude  of  the  trustees  of  Hampton  Institute  has  been 
recently  expressed  in  the  following  resolution  passed  at  their 
annual  meeting  on  May  1,  and  transmitted  to  President  Wilson: 
“Resolved:  That  this  Board  desires  to  represent  to 
the  President  of  the  United  States  the  profound 
sense  of  humiliation  and  shame  with  which  their  con- 
stituency, both  white  and  black,  and  at  the  South  as 
well  as  at  the  North,  observes  the  continued  practice 
of  lynching,  with  its  revolting  horrors,  and  the  re- 
sulting degradation  of  its  perpetrators. 

“We  venture  to  urge  that  the  President,  having 
expressed  in  a letter  in  1918  his  deep  concern  for 
this  National  disgrace,  continue  to  use  his  great  in- 
fluence to  check  the  calamity;  assuring  him  that  such 
action  will  be  welcomed  by  great  numbers  of  citizens 
who  are  now  seriously  disquieted  and  alarmed.” 


THE  WHITE  SOUTH’S  PROTEST 
AGAINST  LYNCHING* 

A PRESS  SYMPOSIUM 

THE  DUTY  OF  “STAY-AT-HOMES” 

DURING  the  war  there  was  a subsidence  of  lynching  in  the 
South,  but  now  that  peace  has  come  to  the  world  the  in- 
dustry is  reviving.  When  will  the  conservatism  of  the  South 
and  when  will  the  intelligence  of  the  South  assert  itself  in  such 
a way  as  to  have  the  punishment  of  all  crimes  meted  out  in  a 
court  of  law?  When  will  the  Southern  people  stop  destroying 
themselves  by  lynching  Negroes  when  it  is  so  easy  legally  to 
punish  a Negro  malefactor? 

The  lynching  business  has  become  such  a matter  of  course 
and  the  mob  seems  to  sway  such  an  influence  that  right-thinking 
men  in  a community  are  deterred  from  protesting.  It  has  even 
become  so  that  the  newspapers  pass  lightly  over  these  occur- 
rences. 

The  lynching  spirit  has  become  so  dominant  that  it  is  not 
“good  form”  to  protest.  If  anyone  does  denounce  what  has 
been  done,  there  is  often  an  answer  that  he  is  not  loyal  to  the 
doctrine  of  race  superiority  and  that  somehow  he  is  an  advocate 
of  Negro  equality. 

Now  we  have  engaged  in  a great  war  to  make  the  world  safe 
for  democracy.  Thousands  of  our  young  men  have  died  that 
men  may  be  free.  Two  million  American  soldiers  went  to  France 
to  put  a stop  to  the  torture  of  women  and  children,  to  the  burn- 
ing of  homes,  and  to  the  pillaging  of  cities. 

While  these  young  men  are  in  France  seeking  to  restore 
peace  and  order  should  not  our  stay-at-homes,  too,  desist  from 
organized  lawlessness?  The  South  will  progress  only  when  it 
becomes  known  by  practice  that,  in  this  land,  crime  is  punished 
legally;  that  crime  is  not  permitted  to  go  unpunished  legally; 
and  that  the  law  proceeds,  unshackled  and  untrammeled,  in  all 
these  activities  which  make  human  life  and  human  society  safe 
and  which  make  for  the  refinement  as  against  the  coarsening  of 
men. — Commercial- Appeal,  Memphis,  Tenn. 


* Reprinted  from  The  Southern  Workman,  published  by  Hampton  Institute,  Hampton,  Va. 


WHITE  SOUTH’S  PROTEST  AGAINST  LYNCHING  7 


A DISGRACEFUL  RECORD 


YNCHINGS  in  the  United  States  during  the  year  1918  show 


an  increase  of  about  60  per  cent  over  the  number  occurring 
in  1917.  There  were  thirty-eight  lynchings  in  1917  and  sixty- 
two  in  1918,  the  increase  being  twenty-four.  Fifty-eight  of 
those  put  to  death  were  Negroes  and  four  were  white  persons, 
and  among  the  victims  were  five  women.  These  are  the  facts 
and  figures  compiled  by  Tuskegee  Institute  at  Tuskegee,  Ala. 

Lynchings  formerly  were  provoked  by  assaults  by  Negroes 
on  white  women,  and  there  was  a disposition  to  excuse  the  mob. 
Judge  Lynch  was  thus  encouraged  to  extend  his  jurisdiction. 
Statistics  for  recent  years  have  shown  that  he  is  gradually  doing 
that.  He  presumes  now  to  usurp  the  functions  of  the  courts  in 
the  punishment  of  all  kinds  and  degrees  of  crimes;  and  he  no 
longer  draws  the  color  line. 

The  lynchings  in  1918,  according  to  the  records  made  up  at 
Tuskegee,  were  for  murder;  for  alleged  complicity  in  murder; 
for  threats  to  kill;  for  assault;  for  attempted  assault;  for  alleged 
participation  in  a fight  over  an  alleged  hog-stealing;  for  killing 
an  officer  of  the  law;  for  assisting  a man  charged  with  murder  to 
escape;  for  robbing  a house  and  frightening  women;  for  killing  a 
man  in  a dispute  about  automobile  repairs;  for  killing  a landlord 
in  a dispute  over  a farm  contract;  for  assault  with  intent  to 
murder;  for  wounding  another;  for  robbery  and  resisting  arrest. 
Only  sixteen  of  the  lynchings  were  for  assault  or  attempted 
assault  on  women.  Many  of  the  crimes  charged  against  the  vic- 
tims of  the  mobs  were  not  punishable  with  death  under  the  law, 
while  some  of  them  were  only  punishable  with  jail  sentences  or 
fines. 

It  was  a disgraceful  record  that  Judge  Lynch  was  permitted 
to  make  in  1918,  and  there  is  no  assurance  that  he  will  not  be 
permitted  to  make  a still  more  disgraceful  record  during  the 
present  year.  Fifty-seven  men,  four  of  them  white  men,  and 
five  women — sixty-two  people  in  all— were  denied  their  day  in 
court  and  put  to  death  by  mobs. 

Many  of  these  people  had  not  committed  capital  crimes, 
while  some  of  them  were  innocent  of  any  crime.  If  possible, 
every  member  of  every  one  of  these  mobs  should  have  been 
brought  to  judgment  in  the  courts  they  defied,  but,  so  far  as  is 
known,  no  effort  has  been  made  to  apprehend  any  of  the  lynch- 
ers. It  may  be  that  the  Federal  Government,  realizing  that 
State  authorities  will  not  uphold  the  law  against  the  mob,  will 
eventually  take  steps  to  enforce  the  clause  of  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution which  provides  that  no  person  shall  be  deprived  of  life 
or  liberty  without  due  process  of  law. — Courier,  Bristol,  Va. 


8 WHITE  SOUTH’S  PROTEST  AGAINST  LYNCHING 


A HOPEFUL  INCIDENCE 

NOT  in  a long  while  has  there  been  a more  hopeful  incident  con- 
nected with  a rather  hopeless  subject  than  the  conviction 
in  North  Carolina  of  fifteen  out  of  sixteen  mob  members,  tried  on 
the  charge  of  having  invaded  the  pale  at  Winston-Salem  in  the 
effort  to  take  therefrom  and  lynch  a Negro  charged  with  the 
“usual  crime.” 

In  the  first  place  there  was  found  a judge  courageous  enough 
to  grant  a change  of  venue,  which  would  prevent  the  farce  of  a 
trial  in  the  locality  in  which  the  public  mind  was  centered  on  the 
crime  that  the  mob  undertook  to  avenge  and  not  at  all  on  that 
which  the  mob  committed  in  the  method  of  riot  and  anarchy 
which  it  adopted. 

In  the  second  place  there  was  found  in  Surry  County  a jury 
of  white  men  who  had  the  mental  power  and  the  moral  force  to 
withstand  the  appeals  of  the  oratory  with  which  they  must  have 
been  overwhelmed,  and  to  punish  as  the  most  grievous  of  offenses 
against  the  law  the  act  of  those  who  would  have  usurped  its  right 
to  impose  punishment. 

Homilies  against  lynching  are  obviously  founded  and  easily 
said.  Denunciation  of  mobs  in  the  abstract  is  almost  an  obliga- 
tion of  the  state  of  respectability.  It  is  a different  matter,  and 
an  exceptional  instance,  to  give  the  homily  and  the  denunciation 
effect  by  verdict  and  sentence.  We  are  getting  nearer  to  the  civi- 
lization of  deeds  instead  of  talks  when  such  a thing  becomes 
possible. 

To  The  Chicago  Tribune  and  those  other  members  of  the 
Western  and  Northern  press,  so  fond  of  crying  out  upon  South- 
ern lynchings,  let  us  commend  for  praise  the  Surry  County  jury 
and  judge  that  put  the  law  on  the  men  who  presumed  to  make  it 
an  agent  of  lawlessness. 

But  beyond  dealing  by  the  law’s  punishment  with  the  mob 
that  usurps  the  function  of  the  law  is  the  one  more  step  to  be 
taken  against  the  principle  of  the  mob  that  insidiously  affects 
and  ultimately  weakens  the  spirit  of  the  law  to  the  mob’s  creation. 
We  denounce  the  legal  anarchists  who  raid  and  punish  a criminal; 
we  rejoice  in  the  rare  instances  when  they  are  punished. 

But  do  we  not  incite  this  very  spirit  of  the  mob’s  lust  to 
punish  outside  the  law  when,  for  the  sake  of  expediency,  prose- 
cuting officers,  judges,  popular  sentiment  excuse  lawless  acts  on 
the  part  of  officers  who  are  sworn  to  obey  the  law,  whose  obliga- 
tion it  is  most  strictly  to  observe  it,  yet  who  excuse  its  disregard 
on  the  plea  that  thereby  the  ends  of  justice  are  conserved? 

Is  there  logical  difference  between  the  officer  who  makes  an 
unwarranted  arrest  on  the  chance  of  catching  a criminal  for  a 
crime  yet  undisclosed  and  the  mob  that  charges  a jail  to  hang  a man 
because  he  ought  to  be  hung? — Daily  Press,  Newport  News,  Va. 


WHITE  SOUTH’S  PROTEST  AGAINST  LYNCHING  9 


A CRIME  OF  VIOLENCE 

MANY  years  ago  Booker  T.  Washington  undertook  to  keep  a 
list  of  lynchings  in  the  United  States  showing  the  color  and 
sex  of  victims  and  the  provocation  of  the  crimes.  Tuskegee  In- 
stitute has  continued  the  record.  It  shows  that  during  the  first 
six  months  of  the  year  1918  there  were  thirty-five  lynchings, 
against  fourteen  for  the  corresponding  period  in  1917.  Only  one 
victim  was  white;  three  were  women;  and  only  eight  of  the 
thirty-five  persons  murdered  by  mobs  were  charged  with  rape. 

The  record  is  highly  educative;  it  has  shown  every  year  that 
lynching  is  a crime  of  violence  indulged  in  by  mobs  and  that  it 
cannot  be  classified  as  irregular  punishment  of  assaulters,  because 
the  victims  are  in  many  cases  not  charged  with  assault.  Less  than 
one-fourth  of  them  during  the  last  six  months  were  lynched  upon 
that  charge.  It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  lynchers  do  not  wait 
for  proof,  but  oftimes  they  kill  a victim  against  whom  evidence 
to  support  the  charge  is  slight. 

The  only  lynching  which  occurred  north  of  the  Ohio  during 
the  first  half  of  the  year  1918  was  in  Illinois.  The  victim  was  a 
supposed  German  sympathizer  against  whom  the  charges  made 
by  the  mob  were  not  supported  by  evidence  discovered  by  investi- 
gations after  his  death. 

It  is  not  always,  or  usually,  true  that  all  of  the  lynchings  dur- 
ing a period  of  six  months  occur  in  the  South,  and  it  is  true  that 
there  are  about  as  many  lynchings  of  Negroes  in  the  North  as  in 
the  South  in  proportion  to  the  Negro  populations  of  the  two 
sections. 

As  proof  that  the  common  defense  of  lynching  is  fatuous,  the 
Tuskegee  record,  showing  how  often  the  victim  of  mob  violence 
is  charged  with  a crime  other  than  assault,  is  worth  the  effort  its 
making  involves.  It  serves  admirably  as  unassailable  “publicity,” 
controverting  the  often-made  statement  that  “lynching  is  due  to 
the  passionate  resentment  of  respectable  citizens  when  crimes 
against  women  have  been  committed.” 

— Courier- Journal,  Louisville,  Ky. 

GENERAL  LEE’S  EXAMPLE 

SOMEWHERE  we  read  that  it  is  better  to  do  the  will  than  to 
name  the  name.  In  vain  do  we  eulogize  the  name  of  Lee, 
unless  we  learn  the  lessons  his  life  and  wisdom  would  teach  us, 
Some  years  ago  John  Morley,  the  English  statesman  and  historian, 
declared  the  problem  of  the  South — the  Negro  problem— -to 
be  the  most  gigantic,  the  most  complex,  and  the  most  far-reaching 
problem  that  confronted  any  people. 


10  WHITE  SOUTH’S  PROTEST  AGAINST  LYNCHING 


What  may  we  learn  from  Robert  E.  Lee  about  this  problem? 
Capt.  R.  E.  Lee  in  his  “Recollections  and  Letters  of  General  Lee,” 
tells  us  that,  while  his  father  was  president  of  Washington  Col- 
lege, a student  was  shot  by  a Negro  in  a street  disturbance  in 
Lexington.  It  was  reported  that  in  the  case  of  the  young  man’s 
death  the  murderer  would  be  summarily  dealt  with  by  his  college- 
mates.  President  Lee  wrote  a letter  to  Mr.  G.  B.  Strickler,  pres- 
ident of  the  Young  Men’s  Christian  Association,  in  which  he  said: 
“I  have  just  been  informed  by  Captain  Wagner,  military 
commissioner  of  this  district,  that,  from  information  received  by 
him,  he  had  reason  to  apprehend  that  should  the  wound  received 

by  Mr. — prove  fatal,  the  students  of  Washington  College 

contemplate  taking  from  jail  the  man  who  shot  him  and  inflicting 
upon  him  his  summary  punishment.  * * * 

“I  feel  convinced  that  none  would  countenance  such  outrage 
against  law  and  order,  but  that  all  will  cheerfully  submit  to  the 
administration  of  justice  by  the  legal  authorities.  * * * I 

earnestly  invoke  the  students  to  abstain  from  any  violation  of  the 
law,  and  to  unite  in  preserving  quiet  and  order  on  this  and  every 
occasion.” 

May  we  not  learn  from  Robert  E.  Lee  that  the  religious  and 
the  law-abiding  must  solve  this  most  complex  problem? 

—John  T.  Fitzgerald,  News,  Lynchburg,  Ya. 

CRIME  AGAINST  THE  LAW 

THE  entire  country  was  shocked  at  the  recent  lynching  of  four 
Negroes,  at  Shubuta,  Miss.,  and  no  section  has  been  more  out- 
spoken in  its  condemnation  than  the  South.  That  this  crime 
against  the  law  should  be  perpetrated  at  this  time  of  the  year 
when  we  are  taught  “good-will  to  all”  and  when  humanity  is 
working  harmoniously  to  create  a universal  feeling  of  peace  and 
order,  is  deplorable.  The  fact  that  two  young  Negro  girls  were 
among  the  victims  of  the  mob  intensified  the  feeling  of  indigna- 
tion. No  excuse  could  be  offered  for  the  violation  of  law;  there 
was  not  the  slightest  difficulty  in  arresting,  trying,  convicting, 
and  punishing  the  Negro  who  was  guilty  of  Dr.  Johnson’s  murder. 

At  this  time  when  the  world  is  aroused  against  the  deeds  of 
violence,  and  determined  and  organized  to  enforce  the  reign  of 
law,  it  is  unfortunate  that  it  should  have  to  face  a wholesale 
lynching  like  that  at  Shubuta. 

As  between  the  two  elements — those  who  are  seeking  to  stir 
up  trouble  by  arousing  racial  bitterness,  and  those  guilty  of 
“lynching”  against  the  law  and  the  peace  and  the  order  of  the 
community  — there  is  a strong  element  in  the  South  working  hard 
and  earnestly  to  suppress  lynchings  and  to  leave  justice  to  the 
courts. 


WHITE  SOUTH’S  PROTEST  AGAINST  LYNCHING  11 


These  efforts  for  law  and  order  are  seriously  handicapped  and 
undone  by  the  disorderly  elements.  That  there  has  been  a gfeat 
improvement  of  late  is  evident.  Conditions  promise  still  further 
great  improvements. 

In  the  light  of  this  advance,  the  Shubuta  lynching  comes  as  a 
shock  against  which  all  friends  of  the  South  and  good-will  be- 
tween the  whites  and  blacks  should  and  do  protest. 

— Times- Picayune,  New  Orleans,  La. 

AN  APPALLING  RECORD 

SIXTY-TWO  lynchings  in  the  United  States  in  the  year  1918 — 
twenty-four  more  than  in  1917.  An  appalling  record  indeed ! 
The  facts  were  compiled  by  Monroe  N.  Work  of  Tuskegee  In- 
stitute, who  is  recognized  as  a painstaking  statistician.  He  has 
been  keeping  the  record  of  lynchings  for  many  years  past  and  his 
reports  are  accepted  everywhere  as  trustworthy. 

Most  of  the  lynchings  in  1918  were  in  the  cotton  belt,  and  all 
but  four  of  the  victims  were  Negroes.  Included  in  the  number 
were  five  females.  It  used  to  be  that  assaults  on  white  women 
were  the  crime  for  which  swift  punishment  was  meted  out,  but  in 
recent  years  mobs  have  put  Negroes  to  death  for  various  offenses; 
some  of  them  comparatively  trivial.  Of  the  Negroes  lynched  dur- 
ing the  year  1918  only  sixteen  were  charged  with  criminal  assault. 

Georgia,  with  eighteen  lynchings,  heads  the  list  of  states  guilty 
of  lawlessness.  Louisiana  and  Texas  come  next  with  nine  each. 
Alabama  had  only  four;  but  it  was  four  too  many. 

In  reconstruction  days,  when  brutish  crimes  against  women 
were  more  frequent  than  they  are  now,  public  sentiment  was  usu- 
ally on  the  side  of  the  lynchers.  But  conditions  have  improved 
and  the  attitude  of  the  people  toward  lynching  has  changed. 
Every  man  charged  with  any  kind  of  felony  should  be  tried  and 
punished  by  law  and  without  the  law’s  delays. 

Lynching  reacts  upon  the  community  in  which  it  takes  place. 
Lawlessness  unrestrained  is  like  a corroding  ulcer.  It  eats  into 
our  boasted  civilization  and  every  manifestation  of  mob  action  is 
far-reaching  in  its  brutalizing  effect  on  society  in  general.  Moral 
standards  are  lowered  and  respect  for  law  is  reduced  to  a minimum. 

The  good  people  of  Georgia  and  the  good  people  of  all  the 
other  states,  where  lynchings  have  occurred,  should  arise  up  in  a 
determined  effort  to  banish  Judge  Lynch  forever. 

Georgia  surely  needs  a campaign  of  education  and  remolding 
of  public  sentiment.  That  state  can  ill  afford  to  have  a repeti- 
tion of  its  lynching  record  for  1918. 

— Age-Herald , Birmingham,  Ala. 


12  WHITE  SOUTH’S  PROTEST  AGAINST  LYNCHING 


STATE  SHAME  AND  DISCREDIT 

BEFORE  me  I have  an  issue  of  the  Advertiser  containing 
an  Associated  Press  dispatch  giving  the  number  of  lynch- 
ngs  during  the  year  1918,  as  annually  compiled  by  the  Tuskegee 
Institute. 

Knowing  how  persistently  and  honestly  you  have  striven  in 
your  paper  against  this  monstrous  crime,  I take  the  liberty  of 
asking  you  to  publish  this  communication.  * * * 

Instead  of  diminishing,  the  crime  of  lynching  is  on  the  in- 
crease. The  number  of  states  in  which  lynchings  occurred  were 
sixteen,  with  Georgia  in  the  lead  in  the  list  of  dishonor.  * * * 
While  lynchings  occurred  in  many  sections  and  cannot  be 
called  entirely  sectional,  yet  the  fact  remains,  nevertheless,  that 
out  of  the  sixteen  states  enumerated,  twelve  of  them  are  in  the 
Southern  states  and  the  victims  comprise  fifty-eight  Negroes  and 
four  whites,  so  the  venom  of  the  lynchers  was  principally  directed 
against  Negroes. 

As  to  the  causes,  when  lynching  first  came  into  vogue,  rape 
was  the  principal  factor  that  brought  on  lynching;  but,  later  on, 
it  comprised  any  kind  of  offense,  from  rape  to  hog-stealing  and 
resisting  an  officer. 

There  are  a handful  of  lawless  men  in  each  community  who 
are  at  any  time  ready  to  tear  down  the  temples  of  justice  and 
bring  shame  and  discredit  upon  the  community  and  state.  They 
care  little  about  the  guilt  of  the  accused  and  with  them  accusation 
is  evidence  of  guilt. 

I cite  a case  in  point  which  happened  in  this  county  a few 
years  ago,  when  several  Negroes  were  accused  of  poisoning 
horses,  which  was  a very  dastardly  deed.  They  were  arrested, 
tried,  and  acquitted  for  want  of  evidence.  Some  time  later  they 
were  taken  from  their  homes,  under  cover  of  night,  and  put  to 
death. 

Will  those  who  participate  in  lynchings  ever  realize  that  each 
person  who  takes  an  active  part  in  such  proceedings  has  taken 
a human  life  without  sanction  of  law  and  is  a murderer  ? And 
those  who  aid  and  abet  them  by  their  approval  or  silence  cannot 
be  classed  as  good  citizens.  I hope,  Mr.  Editor,  you  will  continue 
to  help  create  a public  sentiment  which  will  cause  our  grand  and 
petit  juries  to  convict  these  law-breakers  wherever  the  evidence  is 
warranted. 

Let  it  be  said  in  honor  of  the  State  executive  and  the  judici- 
ary, that  they  have  put  forth  their  best  efforts  to  reduce  and  put 
down  this  terrible  evil.  — S.  Zadek,  Advertiser,  Montgomery,  Ala. 


WHITE  SOUTH’S  PROTEST  AGAINST  LYNCHING  13 


A MENACE  TO  CIVILIZATION 

THE  lynching  record  of  the  year  just  closed,  carried  by  the 
Associated  Press,  and  published  in  the  Constitution,  shows 
that  Georgia  leads  all  other  states,  with  eighteen  lynchings  to  its 
discredit,  or  twice  as  many  as  any  other  state. 

The  list  of  states  in  which  lynchings  occurred  during  1918, 
with  the  number  of  such  crimes  committed  in  each  state,  is  as 
follows:  Alabama,  3;  Arkansas,  2;  California,  1;  Florida,  2; 

Georgia,  18;  Illinois,  1;  Kentucky,  1;  Louisiana,  9;  Mississippi,  6; 
North  Carolina,  2;  Oklahoma,  1;  South  Carolina,  1;  Tennessee,  4; 
Texas,  9;  Virginia,  1;  Wyoming,  1.  This  list  was  compiled  by  the 
Department  of  Records  and  Research  of  the  Tuskegee  Institute, 
and  is  accepted  as  being  authentic,  as  the  accuracy  of  its  statis- 
tics in  this  respect  has  never  been  assailed. 

It  is  certainly  approximately  correct,  and  the  showing  should 
bring  the  blush  of  shame  to  the  cheek  of  every  Georgian  who  is 
proud  of  his  state  and  sensitive  to  any  disparagement  of  its  good 
name  ! 

In  only  sixteen  of  the  forty-eight  states  did  any  lynchings 
occur  during  the  year  just  closed.  The  total  number  was  sixty- 
two,  or  twenty-four  more  than  during  1917.  Georgia  headed  the 
list  in  1917;  and,  as  if  determined  not  to  be  outdone,  comes  for- 
ward with  eighteen  lynchings  to  its  discredit  for  1918,  with  its 
nearest  competitors  standing  neck-and-neck  with  nine  each— the 
record  of  both  combined  equaling  that  of  Georgia  alone. 

Of  course  Georgia  will  receive  its  due  quota  of  publicity  as  a 
result  of  this  discreditable  record  of  outlawry.  For  years  the 
Constitution  has  been  engaged  in  an  effort  to  arouse  a sentiment 
in  this  state  that  would  stamp  out  lynching  and  mob  violence. 

The  time  was  when  lynching  was  resorted  to  as  punishment 
for  only  one  offense;  and  when  it  was  most  exceptional  that  a 
lynching  occurred  for  any  other  than  that  one  cause.  Whenever 
there  was  a lynching  for  that  cause  those  who  conducted  it  took 
the  position  that  it  would  never  be  resorted  to  for  any  other. 

“The  Constitution  then  expressed  a warning  that,  if  mob 
law  were  tolerated  in  any  instance  and  for  any  cause,  it  would 
surely  spread;  and  that  it  eventually  would  get  beyond  bounds; 
that  it  was  only  a step  from  lynching  for  that  one  type  of  crime 
to  mob  law  for  less  heinous  offenses.  Our  prediction  has  come 
true,  as  is  shown  by  the  fact  that,  of  the  eighteen  lynchings  that 
occurred  in  this  state  last  year,  only  a small  proportion  of  the 
number  bore  any  relation  whatever  to  the  offenses  for  which  lynch- 
ing was  ever  accorded  any  measure  of  justification! 

Now  we  find  lynching  resorted  to  as  punishment  for  even 
robbery  and  petty  crime.  Either  the  public  sentiment  of  Georgia 


14  WHITE  SOUTH’S  PROTEST  AGAINST  LYNCHING 


must  put  an  end  to  lynching,  and  restore  universal  power  and 
authority  of  law,  or  else  mob  law  is  going  to  pull  down  the  civil- 
ization of  this  state! 

Time  and  time  again  the  Constitution  has  sounded  the 
warning  that,  if  the  state  does  not  meet  its  obligations  in  this  re- 
spect, the  Federal  Government  will  step  in  and  do  the  work  itself, 
because  no  State  in  the  Union  is  going  to  be  permitted  thus  to 
blacken  the  National  escutcheon.  The  worst  feature  of  the  lynch- 
ing record  of  Georgia  is  that  every  year  it  grows  worse,  ana  the 
State  seems  to  be  helpless.  Again  we  appeal  to  the  better  people 
of  Georgia,  to  waken!— Constitution,  Atlanta,  Ga. 

DISRESPECT  FOR  LAW 

LYNCHINGS  are  on  the  increase,  according  to  statistics  com- 
piled by  the  Division  of  Records  and  Research  of  the  Tuske- 
gee  Institute.  * * * Like  the  malaria  handicap,  lynching 

still  persists— and  that  is  the  real  question.  It  is,  we  believe, 
generally  falling  off  in  its  totals.  But  this  is  a long  way  from 
that  entire  extermination  of  the  poison,  which  is  an  absolute  es- 
sential, if  we  are  to  have  even  approximate  normal  health  in  the 
body  politic. 

The  decline  in  lynching  is  largely  the  result  of  an  improved 
race  relation,  resulting  in  part  from  changed  industrial  conditions 
that  have  influenced,  if  not  compelled,  kindlier  and  more  tolerant 
relations.  There  has  been  a marked  reduction  of  crimes  which 
lead  to  lynchings  — a reduction  mainly  consequent  upon  prohibition. 

The  unsatisfactory  feature  of  the  decrease  in  criminality  and 
lynchings  is  that  it  is  so  largely  due  to  other  causes,  we  appre- 
hend, than  respect  for  law.  That  disrespect  is  the  ailment  that 
calls  for  correction,  and  the  lynching  recurrence  is  a main  ob- 
struction in  the  pathway  of  reform  and  betterment.  Legislation 
may  offer  no  panacea,  but  it  is  certain  that  as  a remedy  for  lynch- 
ing it  has  not  been  exhausted  in  some  states.  South  Carolina  has 
a law  which  Georgia  has  not;  and  Georgia  has  for  years  been  ex- 
ceeding South  Carolina  in  lynchings.  This  may  be  coincidence, 
but  it  would  be  reasonable  to  assume  that  a stringent  law,  with 
a record  of  its  enforcement,  upon  officers  who  do  not  prevent 
lynching  possesses  merit.  Virginia  has  been  wholly  removed  from 
the  lynching  states,  mainly,  it  is  contended,  through  dread  of  a 
law  giving  the  State  the  right  of  changing  the  venues  in  criminal 
cases.  All  of  the  apparent  restraints  had  better  be  enacted 
than  to  risk  the  conference  of  jurisdiction  in  lynching  cases  on 
the  Federal  courts— a certain  ultimate  resort  for  the  prevention 
of  crim e.— Herald,  Vicksburg,  Miss. 


WHITE  SOUTH’S  PROTEST  AGAINST  LYNCHING  15 


GEORGIA  WOMEN’S  PROTEST 

RESOLUTIONS  condemning  lynching  as  a means  of  punishing 
crime  of  “any  name  or  character’’  have  been  unanimously 
passed  by  the  executive  board  of  the  Georgia  Federation  of 
Women’s  Clubs.  This  action  was  taken  at  a recent  meeting  of 
the  board,  which  was  held  at  the  home  of  Mrs.  Nellie  Peters 
Black,  State  president.  The  State  Federation  now  consists  of 
370  clubs  located  in  every  section  of  Georgia  and  the  entire  mem- 
bership is  over  25,000.  The  officers  of  these  clubs  have  been  urged 
to  bring  these  resolutions  on  lynching  to  the  attention  of  their 
members,  and  to  ask  each  one  to  use  her  influence  to  “remove 
this  curse  from  Georgia.” 

All  the  members  of  the  Federation  are  working  for  the  good 
of  Georgia  and  their  interest  in  the  upbuilding  of  the  Negro  race 
is  one  of  their  most  important  issues.  A series  of  cooking  schools 
in  the  larger  cities  of  Georgia  has  already  begun.  This  is  only 
one  of  a number  of  steps  taken  by  the  federation  in  its  efforts  to 
aid  the  Negro.  The  resolutions  follow: 

“Whereas,  lynching  substitutes  the  violent  passions  of  the 
mob  for  the  orderly  processes  of  the  courts  of  justice,  thus  creat- 
ing in  the  minds  of  our  people  disrespect  for  all  law;  and, 

“Whereas,  the  fair  name  of  our  State  has  been  grievously 
injured  and  its  development  retarded  by  the  publication  abroad 
of  lynching  statistics  which  misrepresent  the  overwhelming 
majority  of  our  law-abiding  and  peace-loving  citizens;  and, 

“Whereas,  it  is  in  the  power  of  the  enlightened  women  of 
the  State  to  create  a public  sentiment  in  favor  of  law  and  against 
the  continued  blight  of  mob  violence;  therefore  be  it 

‘ ‘Resolved,  that  the  executive  board  of  the  Georgia  Federation 
of  Women’s  Clubs  hereby  records  its  unqualified  condemnation 
of  lynching  as  a means  of  punishing  crime  of  any  name  or  char- 
acter; and  further  be  it 

“Resolved,  that  we  request  the  officers  of  the  clubs  through- 
out the  state  to  bring  this  matter  to  the  attention  of  their 
members  and  urge  them  to  use  their  influence  in  every  proper 
way  to  remove  this  curse  from  Georgia.” 

—Constitution,  Atlanta,  Ga. 

AN  ECONOMIC  DRAWBACK 

THERE  is  a great  deal  said  about  attracting  sturdy  Western 
people  to  the  untenanted  acres  of  the  South;  but  we  defeat 
our  own  purposes  when  we  sanction  contempt  of  law  and  resorts 
to  violence.  The  Western  people  have  quite  a different  idea  of 
what  is  good  citizenship  and  they  seriously  doubt  the  wisdom  of 


16  WHITE  SOUTH’S  PROTEST  AGAINST  LYNCHING 


settling  in  a land  where  the  laws  are  flouted  and  no  one  is  brought 
to  punishment  for  so  doing.  They  cannot  understand  that  life 
and  property  as  a general  thing,  are  as  safe  with  us  as  in  any 
other  part  of  the  country.  They  judge  by  what  they  read  in  the 
papers  and,  so  judging,  decline  the  proposals  to  move  into  the 
South. 

Thus  it  is  that  lynching  does  us  incalculable  harm  on  the 
economic  side.  It  hurts  also  since  it  is  interpreted  as  the  evi- 
dence of  a low  state  of  civilization.  The  few  who  are  lawless  have 
the  power  to  cast  discredit  upon  the  whole  Southern  people. 

The  way  to  escape  is  through  the  creation  and  establishment 
of  sound  public  opinion.  The  thing  is  possible,  as  we  see  exemp- 
lified in  Virginia.  Let  self-respecting  people  speak  out  against 
this  form  of  crime;  let  grand  juries  indict  and  the  courts  try  and 
convict  the  law-breakers,  no  longer  making  excuses,  but  recogniz- 
ing that  lynching  is  an  unmitigated  evil  and  must  be  blotted  out. 

—Journal,  Montgomery,  Ala. 

GET  RID  OF  COWARDICE 

GEORGE  W.  DAYTON  of  the  Fourth  District  has  introduced 
in  the  Texas  Senate  an  anti-lynching  bill  that  is  excellent. 
It  should  tend  very  far  toward  prevention  of  this  generally  des- 
structive  crime,  because  of  the  pains  and  penalties  it  would  bring 
against  the  lyncher,  the  mobbist  and  the  people  of  the  county 
wherein  they  commit  their  murderous,  anarchistic  atrocities. 

On  its  own  merits,  Senator  Dayton’s  measure  speedily  should 
be  enacted  into  law.  It  should  meet  with  no  opposition  from  any 
intelligent  member  of  either  house  who,  knowing  how  his  State 
is  cursed  at  home  and  defamed  abroad  by  the  barbarous  hor- 
rors and  public  record  of  its  many  crimes  of  lynching,  shall 
determine  to  make  good  his  constitutional  oath  to  perform, 
“faithfully,”  the  duties  of  his  legistative  office  “agreeably  to  the 
Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States  and  of  this  State.”*  * 
Therein  it  is  provided  plainly  that  participants  in  a mob  which 
commits  a killing— which  brings  about  a death — shall  be  charge- 
able with  murder,  and  on  that  charge  shall  be  tried,  not  in  their 
home  county,  but  in  Travis  County,  and  shall  be  prosecuted  by 
the  Attorney  General  and  his  assistants,  regular  or  special.  Even 
if — for  a wonder!— indictments  should  be  returned  against  the 
lynch-murderers  by  the  grand  jury  of  the  county  wherein  the 
crime  was  committed,  trial  venue  must  be  had  in,  and  the  case  at 
once  transferred  to,  Travis  County. 

It  is  also  provided  that  “in  every  case  prosecuted  under  this 
act  in  which  the  defendant  or  defendants  are  convicted  of  the 
offense  of  mob  violence,  resulting  in  death,  the  county  in  which 


WHITE  SOUTH’S  PROTEST  AGAINST  LYNCHING  17 


the  mob  violence  was  committed  shall  be  held  responsible  in  dam- 
ages to  the  dependent  relations  of  the  person  or  persons  so  killed 
by  mob  violence  in  the  amount  and  to  the  extent  of  $5000.”  And 
the  plaintiffs  in  such  civil  suit,  subsequently  brought  aganst  the 
county — and  this  means  the  taxpayers! — that  tolerated  the  mur- 
derous anarchy,  may  have  their  claim  for  the  county’s  $5000 
damage  liability  tried  in  the  District  Court  of  Travis  County,  if 
they  so  elect! 

This  is  the  sound,  workable,  imperatively  necessary  design 
of  the  bill:  The  lyncher,  the  mobbist,  shall  be  indicted,  tried, 
convicted,  and  punished  as  a murderer  when  death  has  resulted 
from  his  lawless  violence;  or  shall  be  prosecuted  for  a felonious 
“assault  by  mob  violence,”  when  his  lawlessness  resulted 
merely  in  injury,  not  in  death;  and  the  county  that  was  the  scene 
of  such  crimes,  respectively,  shall  pay  $5000  to  the  relatives  of 
the  murdered  person  or  $2500  to  the  feloniously  assaulted  person 
himself.  Moreover,  the  Governor  shall  pay  rewards  ranging,  in 
their  aggregate  on  each  case  of  mob  violence,  from  $5000  to 
$10,000,  according  to  the  circumstances  that  obtained  in  the  giv- 
ing of  information  and  in  the  direct  responsibility  for  arrest  and 
conviction  of  the  lynchers. 

Above  all,  this  bill  seeks  to  remedy  either  the  local  criminal 
negligence  of  doing  nothing  by  law,  and  under  the  law,  when  a 
case  of  lynching  savagery  or  other  mob  violence  occurs,  or  those 
familiar  investigations,  wherein  there  is  much  faking,  “fourflush- 
ing,  ” grandstand-playing  by  local  authorities,  that  really  do 
nothing  and  get  nowhere — and  are  meant  to  do  nothing  and  get 
nowhere. 

This  bill  seeks  to  make  of  the  legal  business  and  duty  of 
punishing  guilt  for  a frightful  crime  — and  punishing  it  both 
criminally  and  civilly— a proposition  of  actually  meaning  business, 
and  of  actually  doing  official  duty! 

This  bill,  at  last,  seeks  to  remove  personal  or  political  coward- 
ice, the  fear  of  local  interests  and  local  resentment,  the  expedi- 
ency of  local  official  nonfeasance  or  misfeasance  or  even  mal- 
feasance with  regard  to  lynching  crimes,  from  their  longtime 
place  as  barriers  in  the  way  of  upholding  the  Federal  and  State 
Constitutions  and  of  enforcing  the  Texas  penal  laws.  * * * 

Let  us,  through  submissive  action  by  this  Legislature,  vote 
to  join  the  lyncher  with  the  duelist  and  the  political  corruptionist 
as  being  an  enemy  to  the  Commonwealth,  whom  it  would  be 
utterly  unsafe,  unjust,  demoralizing,  and  degrading  to  admit  to 
the  rights  of  voter  and  public  officer — Express,  San  Antonio,  Texas 


